60 \ 5 GRoSs · \ . was confused and often incomprehen- sible. " J UST as the F.B.I. applied its own idiosyncratic standards in trying to judge Hemingway, its dossier on John Steinbeck (1902-68) reveals an effort to challenge Steinbeck's Americanism and to judge him negatively because he wrote about social and economic jus- tice In the minds of Hoover's agents, writing about such subjects made Steinbeck a radical, and suspect. The F.B.I. provided ninety-four pages from its file on Steinbeck but withheld twenty-three pages; the Army gave up twenty-one pages; the C.I.A., which had two documents, withheld them entirely, on the ground of "national defense or foreign policy." Steinbeck was one of the few Amer- ican writers who suspected that F.B.I. agents were tailing them, but he had no idea of the extent of the surveil- lance. In his file is a letter he wrote to Attorney General Francis Biddle in 1942 that reads, in part, "Do you suppose you could ask Edgar's boys to stop stepping on my heels? They think I am an enemy alien. It's getting tire- C'MOÑ, OP tJ Up! t KNoW OU'R6 IN f T<e! " ,,\ \ O ACH / ".. .,N\otel@ , . some." Biddle forwarded the letter to Hoover, and Hoover replied that Steinbeck "is not being and has never been investigated." Such covering up was usual when Hoover was confronted by one of his theoretical superiors in the Justice De- partment. The phrase "has never been investigated" did not mean that Steinbeck was not being watched, and it certainly glossed over the fact that the F.B.I. had maintained a detailed record on him. It simply indicated that the Bureau had not rolled out its heavy artillery for a full-scale investigation. In the F.B.I. file on Steinbeck, this heading, dated March 10, 1954, ap- pears: "Instances Wherein America's Enemies Have Used or Attempted to Use Steinbeck's Writings and Reputa- tion to Further Their Causes." A number of examples are given of how Steinbeck's books are dangerous to the republic. The file reads, in part: Bureau files reflect that because many of Steinbeck's writings portrayed an ex- tremely sordid and poverty-stricken side of American life, they were reprinted in both German and Russian and used by the Na- zis and Soviets as propaganda against America. . . . Steinbeck's book "Grapes of Wrath" was among the periodicals and books sold from the literature table at a Communist Party May Day meeting held on May 1, 1940, in Los Angeles, California [source censored ]. A booklet announcing the courses of the Workers School of N ew York City, official Communist Party school, for the winter term, 1943, stated that the works of lead- ing dramatic writers, including Steinbeck, would be used in the discussions of history of social institutions as they had been re- flected by writers of all times. The source was the California Com- mittee on Un-American Activities, a Red-hunting body that smeared repu- tations with an even broader brush than the House Committee on U n- American Activities in Washington did; it was therefore a frequently cited source in the F.B.I. files. During March 1945, a copy of a recom- mended reading list used by the American Youth for Democracy (cited by the Attor- ney General) indicated that listed books were available from the New Jersey State office of that organization at a discount. This list included Steinbeck's "The Moon Is Down." [The informant's name is blacked out, but the source is otherwise listed as "state headquarters of the Com- munist Political Association, Newark, New Jersey."] The file does not mention that "The Moon Is Down" is about the Norwe- gian resistance to the Nazi occupation. The Steinbeck file notes that the House Un-American Activities Com- mittee was on record as saying that the National Maritime Union of America "toed the Communist Party line," and the F.B.I. goes on to report, "These ships of the American Merchant Ma- rine are being supplied with libraries for the seamen to read while at sea. . . . John Steinbeck's 'Grapes of Wrath' is naturally present, as it would be in any Communist selec- tion." The file includes a statement made on June 2, 1953, by an admitted former Communist Party member, who testified before the House U n- American Activities Committee that "Steinbeck has done more through his novel about the agricultural workers than anyone else for the Communist Party." Steinbeck came under scrutiny even before he wrote "The Grapes of Wrath." His file notes, "During the Fall of 1936 a group of liberal and communistic writers issued a call for a conference to be held in San Fran- cisco, California, on November 13, 1936, which conference continued throughout the following day. This report indicated that one of the sponsors of this Congress was John